Fight the Phish! this Cybersecurity Awareness Month
Based on the Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report, 80% of all reported cyberattacks in 2019 are caused by phishing and from the start of the…
Read MoreHIPAA Updates
Healthcare Companies Face Legal and Technological Difficulties Reaching CCPA Compliance
Federal Judge Dismissed Houston Hospital Employees’ Lawsuit over Vaccine Mandate
Implementation of the HHS Information Blocking and Interoperability Regulations
FTC Urged to Implement Breach Notification Rule Whenever Fertility Tracking Apps Share User Information With no Authorization
HITECH Act Amendment To Provide Cybersecurity Safe Harbor Signed into Law
Hidden Backdoor Found in 100,000 Zyxel Products
CISA Introduces Website About the SolarWinds Supply Chain Compromise and Free Tool to Detect Malicious Activity
Rave Mobile Safety Introduces COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Solution
FDA Okays Tool for Determining Medical Device Vulnerability Scores
MITRE Corporation created a new rubric for determining Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) scores of medical device vulnerabilities and it has passed the FDA’s scrutiny….
CISA Gives Alert of Continuing Attacks by Chinese Hacking Groups Aimed Towards F5, Pulse Secure, Citrix, and MS Exchange Vulnerabilities
The Department of Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has released a security warning that hackers associated with China’s Ministry of State Security…
Recommended Procedures to Prevent PHI Exposure in Online Medical Presentations
An advisory issued by the American College Of Radiology, the Society For Imaging Informatics In Medicine, and the Radiological Society of North America highlight a…
House of Representatives Approves the Lift on the Ban to Create HHS National Patient Identifier System
The House of Representatives voted to remove the restriction on the Department of Health and Human Services to use federal funds for creating a national…
Grays Harbor Community Hospital Agreed to $185,000 Settlement of Ransomware Lawsuit
Grays Harbor Community Hospital and Harbor Medical Group accepted the proposed settlement deal of the class-action lawsuit that the representative plaintiff filed in connection with…
Insufficient Visibility and Poor Access Management are Key Factors to Cloud Data Breaches
A lot more organizations these days are implementing their digital transformations and are utilizing the flexibility, scalability, and cost savings presented by public cloud spaces….
Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago Faces Lawsuit Related to Two Data Breaches
Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago is confronted with legal action pertaining to two privacy breaches that involved staff accessing the medical records of patients without…
PHI Exposed Due to Breaches at Florida Internal Medicine Practice, Saint Francis Healthcare Partners and Ascension Eastwood Clinic
Daniel Bendetowicz, MD, PA is informing 3,314 patients about the exposure of their PHI because of a ransomware attack. The attack took place on March…
PHI of 41,000 Patients Compromised in Phishing Attacks at UPMC Altoona and Aurora Medical Center
UPMC Altoona found out about an unauthorized access to the email account of one doctor and the person possibly viewed or obtained the protected health…
Phishing Attacks on Healthcare Resource Group and Confido Exposed the PHI of Patients
Confido, a pharmacy benefits consulting company began mailing notification letters to 3,600 of its clients’ personnel, users, and their dependents concerning the probable access of…
Hospitals Enjoy Free Use of TigerConnect Secure Communications Platform During COVID-19 Pandemic
TigerConnect is a company in the U.S.A. offering the most popular secure healthcare communications platform. It announced that it is giving U.S. health systems and…
New Report Unveils the Brand Names Most Often Impersonated by Phishers
The new Vade Secure report unveiled the top 25 commonly impersonated brands in phishing attacks. The Phishers’ Favorite report for Q4 of 2019 stated that…
NIST Issued Its Privacy Framework Version 1.0
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) issued its Privacy Framework version 1.0 on January 16, 2020. The goal of the Privacy Framework is…
Six HIPAA Security Rule Provisions that Help Covered Entities to Prevent Ransomware Attacks
Ransomware attacks are now more advanced. Cybercriminals are creating new approaches and strategies to access systems and deploy ransomware. The most common ways of accessing…
What is Senator Wicker’s U.S. Consumer Data Privacy Act of 2019
Senator Roger Wicker (R-Miss), the Commerce Committee Chair, presented a draft copy of the United States Consumer Data Privacy Act of 2019 (CDAP). CDAP is…
HHS to Issue Higher Civil Monetary Penalties for HIPAA Violations in Keeping with Inflation Rates
As per the Inflation Adjustment Act, the U.S Department of Health and Human Services took into account the inflation rate when issuing civil monetary penalties…
Limited HIPAA Waiver in Areas Affected by Hurricane Dorian
The Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has declared a public health emergency in Puerto Rico and the states of Florida,…
IRS Phishing Scam Used to Spread Keylogging Malware
Taxpayers and business have been warned of a new IRS phishing scam being used to spread keylogging malware. The hackers design the emails to appear…
HHS Issues Limited Waiver of HIPAA Sanctions and Penalties in Louisiana
The US Department of Health and Human Services has issued a limited waiver of HIPAA sanctions and penalties in Louisiana following Tropical Storm Barry making…
Medical Center Enterprise Pays $300,000 to Alabama Woman for Privacy Rights Violation
Medical Center Enterprise, Alabama, has been ordered to pay a woman $300,000 in damages for violating her privacy rights. Amy Pertuit’s patient rights were violated…
Sexual Assault Victim Sues Hospital for Allegedly Disclosing PHI to her Attacker
A sexual assault victim has filed a lawsuit against a Kansas hospital for disclosing her private health information to her attacker. The then proceeded to…
FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Centre Report Shows Increase in Financial Losses Due to Cybercrime
The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Centre (IC3) has released a report indicating that financial losses due to cybercrime rose drastically in 2018. The 2018 Internet…
Michigan Attorney General Responds to Wolverine Solutions Ransomware Attack
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has issued a statement about a recent ransomware attack on the Wolverine Solutions Group, which may have affected up to…
Deadline For Small Data Breach Reports Approaches
All HIPAA covered entities (CEs) should be aware that the deadline for reporting data breaches that occurred in 2018 of fewer than 500 records is…
Phishing Campaign Uses Custom Web Font to Avoid Detection
A new phishing threat has been revealed in which the hacker has created a custom web font on their phishing website which renders the malicious…
Mimecast Security Awareness Training in Business Report Released
Mimecast has recently released the results of a survey on employee security awareness training in businesses. The results show that in many organisations, employees are…
Protenus Publishes Breach Barometer Report for Q3 2018
Protenus, a healthier security organisation, has released its quarterly Breach Barometer Report for Q3 2018. The report is designed to give an insight into the…
Updated Colorado Data Breach Notice Advances: Reporting Period Reduced to 30 Days
February 24, 2018 In January, a new data breach notice bill was announced in Colorado that suggested updates to state rules to improve safeguards for…
Is IBM Cloud HIPAA Compliant?
February 25, 2018 Is IBM Cloud HIPAA compliant? Is the cloud platform appropriate for healthcare companies in the United States to introduce infrastructure, develop health…
District Court Ruling Verifies No Private Reason of Action in HIPAA
June 27, 2018 Patients who believe HIPAA Laws have been violated can submit a complaint to the Division of Health and Human Services’ Office for…
Is Intercom HIPAA Compliant?
March 17, 2018 Intercom’s messaging software-as-a-service solutions are trendy with companies for conversing with possible clients. The solutions have the possibility for use in the…
HHS Files Motion to Dismiss Ciox Health Lawsuit
April 12, 2018 The Division of Health and Human Services has filed a proposal to reject a court case filed by the healthcare information management…
2 to 6 Year Prison Term for Receptionist Who Stole PHI from Dentist Office
April 13, 2018 An ex-receptionist at a New York dental practice has been penalized to serve 2 to 6 years in state prison for stealing…
OCR Reminds Protected Units Not to Overlook Physical Safety Limits
June 2, 2018 The Division of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has reminded protected units that HIPAA not only needs technical…
Is SendGrid HIPAA Conforming?
June 16, 2018 SendGrid is an electronic mail marketing platform that lets businesses easily and quickly transmit their marketing messages to clients, however, can the…
OCR Issues Guidance on Separate Approval of Uses and Disclosures of PHI for Research
June 17, 2018 The Division of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights has released new guidance for HIPAA-covered units to simplify HIPAA approvals…
May 2018 Healthcare Data Break Report
June 21, 2018 April was a specifically bad month for healthcare data breaks with 41 reported incidents. Although it is certainly good news that there…
OCR Draws Consideration to HIPAA Patch Administration Requirements
July 5, 2018 Healthcare companies have been reminded of HIPAA patch administration necessities to ensure the integrity, confidentiality, and availability of ePHI is protected. Patch…
Legislators Blame Oklahoma Division of Veteran Matters of Breaking HIPAA Laws
August 15, 2018 The Oklahoma Division of Veteran Matters has been blamed of breaking Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Laws by three Democrat…
Couple Indicts McAlester Hospital Over Suspected Prying and Impermissible Revelation
August 29, 2018 After the unintentional drowning of their adopted son, Denise and Wayne Russell were communicated by the child’s birth mother who made threats…
What do you mean by the Protected Health Information (PHI)?
HIPAA announced all the companies to cover the security of the PHI of the patients including their integrity, availability and the confidentiality. Before that, they…